Jewelry store robber sentenced for Baltimore, Columbia heists

Kevin Rector, The Baltimore Sun

A 21-year-old Baltimore man who participated in the armed robbery of jewelry stores in Baltimore and Columbia in 2010 and 2011 was sentenced on Thursday to more than 13 years in prison, according to the Maryland U.S. attorney's office.

Deontaye Harvey, of West Baltimore, will also have to pay thousands of dollars in restitution to the jewelry stores he robbed at Mondawmin Mall and the Mall in Columbia, prosecutors said.

In the first incident, on Sept. 19, 2010, Harvey entered Elite Gold & Diamonds at the Mondawmin Mall with an unidentified man, took out a gun and said, "Give us what you got," to an employee, prosecutors said.

He then fled the store with the other man and about $10,000 worth of rings and watches, prosecutors said.

In the second incident, on March 30, 2011, Harvey and two other Baltimore men — Aaron Takea Pratt, 22, and Reginald Duane Dargan Jr., 20 — entered the Edward Arthur Jewelers in the Columbia mall, brandished weapons and demanded the contents of a jewelry case, prosecutors said.

Harvey, who had a gun, told an employee to hurry up emptying the case contents into a bag or he would shoot him in the foot, prosecutors said. Pratt also threatened an employee with a gun, while Dargan brandished a long knife, prosecutors said.

The men left the store with 34 men's Rolex watches worth about $275,000, prosecutors said.

Pratt previously pleaded guilty to the Columbia robbery and was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. Dargan was found guilty of the robbery Nov. 8 and is scheduled to be sentenced in February.

Harvey was ordered by District Judge Catherine C. Blake on Thursday to serve 162 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, prosecutors said.

He will also have to pay $7,950 to Elite Gold & Diamonds and $33,255 to Edward Arthur Jewelers in restitution.

In April 2011, The Baltimore Sun reported that Derek Jones, 25, was killed in Baltimore after being interviewed in the case by police, after security footage showed his vehicle had been used as a getaway car. Jones said he'd lent his vehicle to a woman, and police said his denial of involvement in the robbery matched evidence.

Shortly after his meeting with Howard County police, however, Jones was killed in the 1200 block of Winchester Street by three bullets fired at close range. Witnesses said they saw Jones and Harvey talking moments before the killing, according to court records.